Coral reefs need our help more than ever before. Here’s where we can start. https://t.co/NdMRrqceMS

Plastic bag suffocating a coral. Photo: Rich Carey In 2016, members of our research team were surveying the health of coral reefs along a 200-mile stretch off Myanmar’s southern coast when they made a startling discovery. Bags, bottles, diapers and other plastic debris were stuck everywhere on the reefs and, our data confirmed, adding to coral disease with alarming frequency. Now that the extensive international coverage about the Cornell University-led oceans plastics study has subsided, we’re left with a towering question: How do we best help these littered reefs that are already so stressed by overfishing and climate change? Better management of fisheries, as it turns out, may offset some of the damage from plastics and warming waters. This can have a bigger, long-term impact on coral health than you may think – and on the fishing communities worldwide that depend on he...